Mountain Biking 11/15/2009
 
I've been pretty busy the past week riding my sweet new bike. Last Saurday was the Rockhopper's first trail ride. I rode at Klondike Park. Unfortunantly, it was not the best place to test out a 29er. The bike climbed a lot better on the hills, and the shifting was great. However, the 29er's long wheelbase proved problematic on the Strip Mine Trail. The Strip Mine Trail is a short loop, but packs in a ton of rocky technical spots that can be challenging. The long wheelbase made a lot of the sharp turns harder and I was having trouble clipping in and out of my new Crank Brother Candy Pedals. On one sharp turn my front wheel slid out on the thick leaves and I fell. I banged some bone in my thigh on a rock. That spot on my thigh still is bruised today, but now it doesn't hurt when I walk. The really tight switchbacks on the Hogsback Trail were pretty much impossible on the 29er. On my old 26, I can ride the first two switchbacks, but had to walk the last three. On the 29er, I almost rode the second but walked the rest of them.

The next days ride at Castlewood was much better. My mom and I rode about 12 miles. The bike was a lot better today. I think mainly Klondike isn't really the ideal 29er trail. Castlewood's long climbs were easily devoured by the big wheels and smooth shifting gears of the next bike. The Reba SL fork is amazing. The air fork is a lot smoother than my old coil fork. The fork may look smaller, a little less than my old 80 mm fork, but it eats up all the rocks, roots, and waterbars just fine. The wheels just kept rolling on the Rollercoaster, I felt like I barely needed to pedal. Cardiac Hill was way easier on a 29er, but it way still plenty challenging. After Cardiac, you go down a pretty big hill and then climb up to Ries Road. There used to be a little section that I always had to walk, but not anymore. Its right at the bottom of the hill, where there is a big root about 5 inches high right before a steep section with some rocks near the top. I used to not be able to get my rear wheel over the root, let alone go up the rocks near the top. The 29er breezed right up and over the root and the rocks. Below is a map of the route I took, I rode many sections twice.
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On Friday, my dad and I wen to Castlewood after school. The trails were great and rode much of last Sunday's ride.  The biggest difference is that we did Lone Wolf. The steep hill going up to the bluff wasn't easy, but was easier on my 29er than my old bike. Midway up the hill, a hiker started taking our picture because we were biking up a big hill. The sun was just setting over the distant hills and had illuminated the clouds with some shades of red. After admiring the view for a little while, we continued on Lone Wolf. The switchbacks that I had to walk earlier this year, I could easily ride down. As usual, I walked over the big log across the trail, but with my new 29er I decided to attempt the rocky creekbed, and that didn't work out. I thought I was going to have to stand up to make it out on the other side, I stood up too soon and when I hit the big rock leading out of the crossing, my bike kind of endoed, and I fell off to the left and banged my elbow on a rock. That hurt for the rest of the ride back to our car. Here is the map of our route.
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Yesterday, my mom and I went to Creve Couer Park to check out the new trail that had recently been built there. We parked by the baseball diamond and biked down the spur trail to access the trail. We rode to the south end first, and rode the loop down by the road. We turned around and rode the whole trail up to the new section. Right after crossing the road the first time, we met Glen, a nice guy from GORC and we talked about my Eagle Project. I am supposed to be one of the very prepared Eagle Scouts who actually did a project. After chatting for a while, we rode off to check out the newest section. This section was a really nice part up on the hillside. Through the trees, the view of Creve Couer Lake was pretty impressive. After riding all the section, we rode all the way back on the trail and did the loop at the south end one more time before returning to the car. The total ride was about seven miles of tight, twisty singletrack fun.
 
My New Bike 11/05/2009
 
Once I've been getting into the mountain bike racing, I realized that my Hardrock Sport is inadequate for racing and hard riding. I've been looking for a new bike since Burning at the Bluff back on October 10. First, I looked more at full-suspension bike, like the Specialized Stuntjumper FSR Comp. I really like the comfort element that the rear shock adds, but they are significantly heavier than hardtails. I then shifted my focus more towards hardtails, especially 29ers. I was going to get a 2009 Stuntjumper Comp. Eventually, I decided that I didn't want to spend a ton of money on a really good race bike, and outgrow it in a year. Now, I started to look at the Rockhopper line.

I decided to get a 2010 Rockhopper Expert 29er. There were a couple of upgrades I had done before I even brought it out of the shop. First, the stock fork, a Dart 3, was replaced with a much better Reba. The Reba SL I got is a lot higher quality air fork. I also replaced the stock x-5 shifters with better x-7 shifters. The biggest difference is the 29 inch wheels though. The largers wheels have a larger contact patch, giving better traction, roll over obstacles better, and once you are moving you roll longer with more momentum.
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Recently, I got into mountain bike racing. It all started about a month ago. My mom and I went to Greensfelder Park for a Specialized Bikes Demo. We got to ride $8,000 full suspension, carbon fiber mountain bikes. After our ride, Adrienne Murphy, the owner of Mesa Cycles, came up to me and talked to me about joining the Mesa Junior Racing Team. I decided to try out mountain bike racing. 

On September 12, I had my first race,  a race at Castlewood State Park. The course was a 5.5 mile loop on the Stinging Nettle and Cedar Bluff Trails. The race was part of the Midwest Fat Tire Series. They race in a format where beginners have to race around the course as many times as they can in an hour. There is a mass start for the Beginners 19 and under. There were about seven people in my class. I was the youngest. The trail started out as a wide gravel path before quickly narrowing down to twisty, bottom land single track. About half a mile after the start, the trail made a steep, rooty plunge into the lower bottom lands. The course made a hard left onto the Cedar Bluff Trail and dipped in and out a a dry creek bed. The course went under the railroad track in a dark, wet, narrow tunnel from 1927. After emerging on the other side of  the tracks, the trail climbed slightly before making a steep dip into a gully. The trail swooped downwards, but soon climbed into an old farm field. The trail made a steep switchback climbing to the left. The trail rolled gently on the side of a hill before climb up a very steep, rocky switchback up to the right. Just before the switchback, I passed Auggie, another Mesa Junior Racer.  When I was riding up this switchback, I passed another racer who was in my class.
The next quarter mile was a long, but gradual ascent. The climb ended at a bench constructed as an Eagle Project. A short descent on a ridge led to another bench. Right after this bench, the biggest descent on the trail started. It was a steep, rocky downhill with some big roots to ride over. After the steep part ended, the trail wound through some ruts and re-entered the farm field. The trail made a beautiful, fast descent thorough the field before dipping into the creek again. The next quater mile was a slow ascent though some ruts with tight trees and large roots in some spots. The trail climbed up though two switchbacks and began its final descent. The last half mile of Cedar Bluff was a fast, rocky downhill on a wide trail. Right before the railroad tunnel, there was a mandatory dismount for some large rocks. We went through a another tunnel and followed the Stinging Nettle half a mile to the area with the big dips. The race course went across one of the dips and followed close to the Meramec River. The trail meandered away from the river for a mile before come back near the river. About two miles from the dips, the course turned away from the Stinging Nettle and followed the Rockaway Connector back to the starting area.
I went around on my first lap in about 36 minutes. I went out for a second lap and did that one in about 37 minutes. In the end, I finished fifth out of my age group. I was pleased with the race and I really liked mountain bike racing.

Today, was the fourth annual Greensfelder Challenge. This is a mountain bike race on the Dogwood Trail at Greensfelder. The course laps would be about 4 miles this time. Since it had rained the night before, the trail was muddy in spots and the roots and rocks were slippery. Because this race course was all single track, we started about a quarter mile from the registration area. The race started on the gravel road to the Roundhouse. After about 200 yds. on the road, the trail dove into the woods and passed the registration area. Right after the Muckerman Shelter, the trail went back into the woods and went down a narrow rocky connector to the Dogwood. The race course went counter clockwise on the Dogwood Trail. The Dogwood Trail is my favorite trail at Greensfelder. The first two miles of the Dogwood are rocky, and flowy. The trail is gradually descending. There are three gradual switchbacks on the Dogwood. The first is about a mile in between where we first got on to the Dogwood. The first mile is a rocky, flowy trail with one small tree to ride over. There are several fun little plunges into small drainage's. The first switchback is a long, smooth, dirt turn that was really fun. On this downhill, some of the faster marathoners passed me. The trail is still the same but has some challenging rocky sections before making another switchback. This switchback was challenging because of the mud on it. After the switchback the trail crosses a challenging drainage. This drainage has a large, white rock placed on the climb out. With all the mud today, the rock was pretty slippery. The trail dropped off a small ledge and made its final switchback down to the left. The trail made a lot of steep dips into drainages and climbed out steeply on the other side. During this section, I passed several riders who had passed me on the downhills earlier. After dropping off a small root and crossing a small creek, the trail made its one long climb out of the valley. The hill was steep at first, bt leveled off soon. After climbing thorough a tight switchback, the course rejoined the gravel road and returned to the Muckerman Shelter. I did the four mile laps in about 25 minutes. Today, I got to do three laps. I finished the race about an 1 hour and ten minutes after I started.

I placed fifth again with about seven people in my age group again. Greensfelder was a much harder course than Castlewood. Castlewood had two miles of more technical riding, the rest was easy bottom land single track. Greensfelder was a rocky technical trail the whole way. The mud and slippery trail only made it a little more difficult. Though the races were different, I like mountain bike racing.
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Here is a picture from the Rockaway Cut Trail at Castlewood.
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Here I am racing on the Dogwood today.
 
 

RV Trip

In early June, my mom and I took a 13 day trip out west in a 31 ft. RV with my aunt, uncle, and cousin, and my cousin's grandparents. We left Madison, WI around 4 P.M. on a Friday. We started our 13 hour drive to Badlands National Park. We arrived at Badlands at 3 A.M. We parked at the Big Badlands Overlook for the night, we woke up to and amazing vista of the Badlands and the White River Valley. After exploring the cliffs around Big Badlands, we drove 3 miles to the Notch Trailhead and cooked pancakes. After eating delicouis pancakes with Wisconsin Maple Syrup, we hiked the 1.5 mile Notch Trail. This scenic trail weaved its way around the outcroppings of rock on the Upper Praire before climbing up 60 ft. on a wooden ladder. The trail follow a narrow, muddy, ledge sytem to a beautiful overlook of the White River Valley. After our hike, we drove to the Visitor Center and looked around for a while. Then we left Badlands and drove to Stockade Lake in Custer State Park. Stockade Lake was located deep in the beautiful Black Hills.  
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The next morning, we climbed Little Devils Tower. This three mile hike led to the 6,971 ft. high summit of Little Devils Tower. This beautiful hike led through grassy meadows along a creek before climbing steeply next to granite spires. The trail ended 100 yds. from the summit. The final strech was fun scrambling over grey granite to the pretty summit. The view to the east included to spectaculer Cathedral Spires. Harney Peak the highest mountain in South Dakota was a mile to the north. We ate lunch on top and then descended.
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After climbing Little Devils Tower, we drove to Mt. Rushmore. Mt. Rushmore was very impressive. We hiked the 1/2 mile Presidental Trail around the base of the monument. That night we camped at Sylvan Lake Campground.
The next morning, we drove to Jewel Cave. We took the Scenic Tour. It led us through some of the prettiest room in the cave. I found out that 90 % of Jewel Cave has crystals on the walls.
After our tour of Jewel Cave, we drove two hours to Devils Tower National Monument. Once there, we hiked the 1.5 mile trail around the base of the tower. The neat thing about the Tower Trail is as you hike around the tower, you see all the different sides.
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After this short hike, my mom and I hiked down the Red Beds Trail to the South Side Trail. This beautiful hike lead down through a ponderosa pine forest interspersed with scenic meadows. After about a mile of hiking, we reached the Red Beds. They were a red clay bluff above the Belle Fourche River. After standing on top of this pretty bluff, we followed the South Side Trail through the Praire Dog Town to the campground.  
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The next day, my uncle and I woke up at 5 A.M. to start the nine hour drive to Yellowstone National Park. As we were driving by Keyhole Reservoir, we saw large herds of pronghorn. Pronghorn are an endangered type of antelope that run at speeds up to 70 miles per hour! When we reached Sheridan, WY, the skies were dark and cloudy. An hour later, we were driving high in the Bighorn Mountain and were above the clouds. The views were incredible.
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We arrived in Yellowstone around 1 in the afternoon. Soon the road climbed to Sylvan Pass. The other side of the snowy canyon had some beautiful waterfalls. The water from the waterfall in the picture disappeared under the snow.
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As we descended the west side of Sylvan Pass, we entered an area that had been burned by a wildfire. The forest was slowly recovering. On the way down, we got our first views of Yellowstone Lake. Soon after we started driving on the lakeshore, we saw our first fumaroles. Fumaroles are one of four types of thermal features. Fumaroles are vents that spew steam and gases. Geysers erupt with boiling water. Hot Spring are springs that have water in them that is often over boiling temperatures. Mudpots are little depressions filled with bubbling mud.

Grizzly Fumarole becomes a series of mudpots during the spring and early summer meltoff, but later in the summer starts to spew steam and gases. When we went in early June, Grizzly Fumarole was still a collection of little mudpots.
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We spent the night at Canyon. When we woke up the niext morning, the was six inches of snow blanketing the forest outside. We were snowed in at our campground until 2 P.M. when the roads were plowed.
Our first stop after leaving Canyon was the North Rim of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We stopped at the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone Overlook. The Upper Falls was an impressive 109 ft. high waterfall.
We then drove 3 miles down the bumpy road to Artist Point. Thomas Moran, a famous painter, gave Artist Point its name when he painted The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. This was one of his most famous paintings. The view was great. You could even see some fumaroles down near the bottom of the canyon.
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Our next destination was Old Faithful. On the way, we stopped at Gibbon Falls and Firehole Falls. Gibbon Falls was an 80 ft. high waterfall in the middle of Gibbon Canyon. Firehole Falls was a 30 ft. high cascade on the Firehole River.
Just as we arrived at Old Faithful, the geyser had just finished erupting. We went inside the Visitor Center and found out the the geyser wouldn't be erupting for an hour and a half. We decided to hike the 1.3 mile Geyser Hill Trail.
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The Geyser Hill Trail was mostly a boardwalk built of a geyser basin above the Firehole River. The boardwalk led past many geysers, fumaroles, and hot springs.
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The Geyser above is Sponge Geyser. The geyser would fill with water and start boiling, and then the water would sink down six inches and stop boiling. The geyser kept filling with water and then draining. There where many other geysers on the adaptly named Geyser Hill. There was Beehive Geyser, that was shaped like a beehive; Lion Geysers, which were four littler geysers clustered together; and Anemone Geyser which erupts every 15 minutes.
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Whale's Mouth Spring is a hot spring that looks similar to a wide mouth going down into the Earth. Behind the spring, you can see the Lion Group of geysers.
Anemone Geyser, above, erupts every 15 minutes. Usually, the geyser looks like a little hole in the ground. Soon steam will rise from the hole. Next, the hole fills with water and starts boiling. Then, the geyser erupts 2-3 ft. in the air. The eruption lasts for about 15 seconds. Finally, the water drains back into the hole with a gurgle.
 
 

Cedar Bluff Ride

On Monday, my mom was off school and we headed out to Castlewood for some evening mountain biking. We headed to Sherman Beach and biked on the Stinging Nettle Trail. We didn't like all the sand, so we rode a connector to the Al Foster Trail. We followed the wide gravel trail to its end and the Cedar Bluff Junction. We walked our bikes under the railroad tracks and started the rugged 2.6 mile loop. We had to dismount and carry our bikes our large fallen trees and up several steep climbs. After curving up high on a hill, the rain started. This was just about the worst spot for it to rain. Not on were we 200 ft. above the river, but we had to bike 3 muddy and slick miles back to the Prius. We decided to turn around and return the way we had come. The dirt trail got worse by the minute. Soon we were walking thorught the tunnel. After the tunnel, we biked faster on the Al Foster Trail. Soon we were back at the Prius in the soaking, cold rain. We took almost an hour to go 4 miles and only 13 minutes to come back.

 

Lost Valley Rides

My mom and I finished the whole Lost Valley Loop on Sunday the 15th. The first three miles by Little Femme Osage Creek were easy and mostly level. We saw several remnants of old homesteads in the valley. The trail leaves the old two track and climbs up a new section of single track constructed by GORC. Then after winding through a small cedar grove the trail curved down some twisty and fast single track. At a sharp bend in the trail, I saw a sign in the woods. We got off our bikes and found an old cemetery. There were graves from 1825. The sign said this was the Dunlap Cemetery. After some more twisty trail we passed above a small spring that bubbled out of the hill down to our right. The became rockier for a while before entering some grassy meadows. We soon came to the cut-off trail, but continued on the long loop. The next 1.5 miles were along a Department of Conservation Gravel Road. The road dropped steeply to a large creek valley. We parrelled a powerline on a grassy trail with 1 creek crossing in the next mile. After dropping off a ledge, the trail made a large creek crossing and climbed up onto a ridge. This climb was smooth dirt singletrack recently constructed by GORC. The trail began to descnd and crossed a small creek above a waterfall. I walked this steep crossing. A short ride later we rejoined the spur trail.

 
 

My mom and I got our new mountain bikes on Feb. 27. The next day, we "baptized" our bikes on the 3 mile Grotpeter Trail at Castlewood.

Last weekend, my family went backpacking at Sam A. Baker State Park with Troop 21. We ended up going 9.75 instead of our planned 14. It was still a great trip. We climbed the talus covered slopes of Mudlick Mountain to Millers Ridge. After climbing Millers Ridge we made a 300 ft. climb to the true summit on Firetower Road. We rested beneath the 80 ft. high Fire Tower before hiking down the Adirondack. Mudlick Mountain is the most prominent peak in Missouri, it rises 800 ft. from the Big Creek valley. After dropping our packs, my family & Mr. Harrison went hiking to get our water from Mudlick Hollow. Mudlick Hollow was the prettiest part of the hike. The narrow rocky valley contained the beautiful shut-in stream of Mudlick Creek. The waterfalls were very pretty to walk by. My family camped  in Adirondack 2 with Will and Alex. We had a bench, two working fireplaces, fire wood, and a view of Big Creek 400 ft. below. It was great sleeping in a CCC adirondack with a roaring fire.



 
 

Last Saturday, my mom and I hiked the 8.2 mile Lewis and Clark Trail in Weldon Springs Conservation Area. It is a beautiful trail high on bluffs above the Missouri River.

Last Sunday, my mom and I hiked two and a half on the Green Rock Trail. After our beautiful hike on the Green Rock, we decided to explore the Clay Pits. When we arrived at the empty parking area, we saw some clay pillars that continued for 25 yards and just stopped. We follow a trail to the Scout Camping Area and saw a high bluffs to the North-west. We hiked down some steep clay slopes before crossing an isthmus between tow shallow ponds. Several trails joined together at the base of a steep, rocky gully. We ascended this gully. After we had scrambled out of the top of the gully, we got a great view of the area. The green pines contrasted sharply with the leafless trees next to them. After walking on the bluff for a while, we went down a small gully and marveled at the colorful clay slopes.

Afterwards, my mom and I stopped at Sunset Cyclery to continue or search for new mountain bikes. One day and four different bike shops later, my mom and I had made up or minds. I am going buy a 2009 Specialized Hardrock Sport Edition from Sunset. My mom is getting a 2009 Novara Piedra from REI. Both are light front-suspension mountain bikes. We can't wait to ride at Castlewood, Lost Valley, Klondike, Chubb, and other great mountain bike trails.

 
 

Two weekends ago, my mom and I hiked the 3.5 mile Round House Loop at Rockwoods Range Conservation Area in 16 degrees and flurries. Instead of bactracking the Fox Creek Spur, we bushwacked down a steep hill and hiked the Green Rock Trails last mile. For a reward, we got to see some great little waterfalls.

On Super Bowl Sunday, my mom and I continued our tradition of hiking the River Scene Trail in Castlewood. It was snowy just like last year, but we got sunny blue skies this year. When we got back to our house, we had a surprise in the backyard. A Cooper's Hawk killed and ate a pigeon in our backyard.

This past Friday, my parents and I drove out and camped at Pere Marquette State Park. Today, we hiked 6.75 miles on beautiful trails high above the Illinois River.

 
Ben's Hikes Blog 01/15/2009
 

I decided to start a blog on this site to talk about some of our hikes before I can get descriptions up, like the Green Rock Trail below.

The Green Rock Trail is a ten mile long point to point trail in south-west St. Louis County. The trail starts at Rockwoods Reservation, goes through Greensfelder County Park, and ends 10 miles later in Rockwoods Range Conservation Area.